Michael Sam disappoints in the 40

Posted by Michael David Smith on February 24, 2014, 11:59 AM EDT

AP

As the most-watched man at the Scouting Combine, former Missouri defensive end Michael Sam aced the early portion of the test, coming across as smart, thoughtful and focused on football when he met the media. But in his workouts, Sam hasn’t been as impressive.

Sam, who will be the NFL’s first openly gay player if he makes it to the league, turned in a disappointing 40-yard dash on Monday after turning in a disappointing bench press on Sunday.

NFL Network timed Sam at 4.79 seconds and 4.84 seconds in his two 40-yard dash attempts. That’s not a good showing for a 261-pound defensive end. Several bigger defensive ends have run faster, and some defensive tackles are faster, too.

And that comes on the heels of yesterday’s performance in the bench press in which Sam managed just 17 repetitions of 225 pounds. That was the second-worst showing among defensive linemen, and plenty of non-linemen (including seven wide receivers) did better than that as well. If you’re not strong and you’re not fast, that’s not a good combination.

By coming out before the Combine, Sam showed that he’s a brave, inspirational young man. What Sam hasn’t shown at the Combine is that he’s a good enough athlete to succeed in the NFL.

This is what happens when you give a day 3 prospect overblown attention for his lifestyle over his ability to play football. Who cares if he’s gay. Inspirational? He isn’t a hero. Just a man who is trying to live his dream as a football player. It’s 2014. Does anyone really care if someone is gay anymore?

So he’s not Mike Mamula. Most teams already knew he wasn’t an elite athlete and wouldn’t time great in the 40. He has a knack for getting to the QB, and that’s all that matters. Someone will draft him.

If Mike Sam truly wants to be “just a football player and a member of the team” and nothing else than we need to start treating him accordingly. I mean, NFL Network had a draft preview this past weekend where their first profile was Johnny Manziel, their second was Clowney, and their 3rd profile was of Michael Sam.
So, in terms of value; Top 5 pick, Top 5 pick….and 6th round pick. Got it.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I was pretty sure he wasn’t graded as more than a low round pick anyway. It isn’t like we saw a top rated prospect being out benched by a punter here. If he hadn’t have come out before the combine, I’m betting that most people on this site wouldn’t care either way about his reps or 40 times. I’m all for an underdog story, but based upon his abilities rather than his hype, is it really all that disappointing?

Well said easy. I think he has to be tired of it all it has to be mentally & emotionally draining for him. He is performing to his ability & now he’s being called “disappointing”. Sheesh, just let the guy be

Sam was productive for one yr in college. Most of his sacks came against the weaker sisters they played, usually late in the game when they were way behind. He was surrounded by a lot of talent on that D, many of which are or will be better prospects than him. He didn’t do much against the SEC iron. Between what’s on film and the Combine, I think the only reason he gets drafted is a team trying to make a statement. On merit he’s no betteer than 6/7th rnd/UFA.

What some guys lack in speed and athleticism, they make up for in heart and determination. It usually equals out in the end. Most of these “freak” atheletes are usually idiots off the field and in locker rooms.

Let’s get this clear. Michael Sam was already out to most of his college teammates. He just made the announcement because he knew it would come out eventually anyway.

He is projected at 3rd -5th round and I don’t think anyone was expecting him to come out on combine day and try to make it for the 1st round. He will get drafted in the later rounds as he should be based on his skill set.

I recall Terrell Suggs running a pair of mid-4.80’s & he said don’t worry I’ll run better at my pro day. He ran worse & the naysayers couldn’t wait to write him off. Suggs & Sam were unanimous All-Americans, both were their conference’s Defensive Player of the Year. Mayock said about Suggs “forget about the combine, look at the game tapes, he’s a football player.”

Suggs has done all right by most people’s standards, 6 Pro Bowls & a DPOY award to go along with his 95 sacks.

Im very worried that super progressive Jeffrey Lurie is going to force his team to waste a high draft pick on this guy so he can brag to his hollywood friends that he had the 1st active openly gay athlete in America on his team.

All this Combine workout warrior stuff is a bunch of bull. The only question is whether a guy is a real football player, not whether he can run a straight 40 yard sprint in a track suit 2/100 of a second faster than some other guy. And like someone said recently, they don’t put a weight bench on the 50 yard line during games.

It doesn’t matter what Clowney’s combine numbers are, for example. Does he have the drive, the energy, the desire, and the smarts to be a great football player? The same question applies to Mike Sam and all the others.

Sports media can’t get enough of this guy – it’s like all networks (NFL included) can’t force their support on him fast enough.
He’s being so over-hyped on NFL Network right now it’s crazy. It’s football people, not TMZ.

The first sentence of the story is sad… “As the most-watched man at the Scouting Combine.”

Why is he the most watched? Really a 4th-7th round pick is the most watched? And who is doing the watching? The teams evaluating his talent or the press?

I expect the press.. The same people who will cover the media circus that surrounds him as an example of the public’s inability to handle someone like him. When really it is the press who create the media circus. I sense Sam and the public are fine with him saying he is gay and moving on.

I don’t see Sam claiming he didn’t get drafted because of it (if he actually doesn’t). Though I expect he will be drafted. If there is doubt at draft time we will see encouragement from the league office for some team to pick him to avoid the press creating a media circus over it.

This guy isn’t brave he is a football player thats it. Why is he brave because he is gay? We do not need to know a persons sexuality its none of our business he now has the attention from the media when ever he breathes when its unnecessary. He should live his life as a gay man if that what he chooses and not announce it to the word i bet there are other gay guys in every sport but we dont know it because they didnt announce it to the world.

Undrafted rookie FA and it’s not because he is gay. The only reason we know who he is is because of him coming out. He knows deep down that he’ll be lucky to make a practice squad. That’s why he told the world he is gay, trying to get famous.

Mike Mayock already had him at a 3rd to a 5th before this combine stuff, now his 3rd to 5th is legitimate and quite possibly later. Roger Dodger is not going to allow this man not to be drafted, if only for the pub. The Brooklyn Nets did the same thing and signed Jason Collins to get/keep the media talking about his team, watching his team. For Sam to have such a poor showing can’t do anything but hurt his stock which is plummetting right now

Increasingly evident that his coming out was less an act of “bravery” than it was an attempt by a guy who knew his limitations to get some PR and perhaps affirmative action himself into the league. PS – who saw Jason Collins five foul, 2 rebound performance the other night.

Let his play on the field do the talking after he is drafted. There are plenty of great players who didn’t have the greatest measurables in the combine. I would call it a red flag if he ran a 40 in 8 seconds, but not a 4.7. Like they said on NFLN this weekend, usually the only time you ever run 40 yards in a straight line in the NFL is when something really good happens, or really bad. The guy is a pass rusher and when paired with another good pass rusher he will produce.

You watch, he will be drafted by some team in that 3-5 range and they will start bragging about how “The rich just got richer. X team just added to their sack arsenel with Sam” when he ends up on some defensive team that just cranks out sacks.

Well then, that’s that. He may have a better chance as an undrafted. That way he can find a team that has real need for a guy like him. In his defense, he may be one of those guys who perform well on game days, when the blood and adrenaline are pumped up; when the emotions are high and something is on the line. Some guys just can’t “bring it” in a sterile workout environment.

After looking at last year’s stats from DE’s in last years combine, Michael Sam has done rather well. I even noticed that players that didn’t even do as well, still were drafted to play in the NFL.
All I know is, whatever team picks up Sam, they’re going to gain a lot of new fans, (maybe lose a few haters, but who cares), and make the franchise a lot of money. Not because he’s gay, but because he’s a leader. I know, I’ll be watching

Does give GM’s an “out” for not drafting him though. Maybe he’ll end up on Seattle with a chip on his shoulder.

He wasn’t the SEC defensive player of the year for nothing. Guys can get stronger. Many guys like clowney and apparently Sam got by with natural talent…haven’t yet put in the hard work in the weight room to dominate in the NFL.

As for his scores, what does that say for the rest of the DE’s who played in the SEC last season? For him to voted top DE player of the year, the other guys must have really sucked. Obviously, he was voted the best for a reason. Seems like you idiots are forgetting that.

Yep, those are te measurables you should expect from an undersized player. 40 was a little disappointing. What’s most surprising is that media outlets like TMZ and RedEye are calling him a “second round prospect”… Totally setting up a storyline for when he gets drafted later than second.

He’ll be an undrafted prospect. I don’t see him being more than on the practice team. The guy has no work ethic, isn’t showing heart, and is obviously doing all this for media attention. Not even the Patriots would take their chances. I don’t see him getting drafted at all period. I do see him on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice squad.

If you base his draft prospects solely on how he does at the combine you are an idiot. The combine is not football. You’re wearing a t-shirt and shorts…no helmet, no pads…and you’re not actually playing the game. He wants to play football in the NFL…not run track and field or just go weightlifting.

It really doesn’t matter what will happen with Sam, they will all be attributed to his being gay. If he gets drafted, if he doesn’t get drafted. If he’s drafted early, if he’s drafted late. If he gets on a team after the draft, if he doesn’t…….. If I remember right, it was his publicist that caused the “gay” admission.

But if he truly isn’t up to NFL standards, I’d hate to see him push it and make a team, only to get nearly killed on the field. He should believe in himself and his own realistic abilities, and not listen to some suits who’ll stand to gain from him playing, but who won’t have to share the physical pains that he might.

Being the first at anything can be great, IF you’ve got the abilities to truly BE that first.

Its funny that most people acknowledge combine drills don’t mean that much in terms of on-field speed or play, yet when someone that’s easy to hate on doesn’t do well they feel the need to point to these drills as evidence he will fail.

sad thing is all this attention on him now just makes it less likely a team would want him. Maybe he is on your team and everything’s fine in the locker room but you are having to answer constant questions about whether he makes the team, his playing time, etc, etc. That is not worth the headache for a guy who is not super talented. There is a reason Jackie Robinson broke through. He was worth the distraction.

Big surprise. All the media hype – including the NFL Network – for a projected mid round pick. WHY? There was nothing “football” related to hype. And if Mr. Sam really wanted to be known as a football player instead of a “gay” football player, perhaps he should waited until he made a Pro Bowl or two before coming out.